BCCI link missed

A JUNIOR MINISTER at the Department of Trade and Industry has admitted that investigators at the DTI had no idea of the relationship between CCL Finance, a fund management company, and the collapsed Bank of Credit Commerce International until the connections were revealed by the Independent on Sunday two weeks ago.

In a letter to the Labour MP Keith Vaz, Neil Hamilton, under-secretary of state for corporate affairs, quotes a statement from CCL's directors on 27 April 1991 which said they had no conclusive evidence that BCCI was 'a controller of or connected with the company'.

He added that the company had since made further progress and that in a recent letter to the Independent on Sunday had confirmed that four CCL investors, owning 95.5 per cent of the shares, were linked to BCCI.

CCL lost around pounds 51m in assets earlier this year when the money was transferred out of the company at the request of BCCI pension fund trustees.